A Hallowed Space

by Alise Versella

Hold a space for me
Between
The darkened winter leaves
Breathe the frost
Clinging to frozen oaks

Bury my bones in the dirt
The hallowed ground of a birch bark church

I have fought wars with echoes In small ponds
Drowning the whippoorwill
Until
Juniper berries stained the shadows

“I am [still] half sick of shadows”

Bury my hunters heart in the forest
Where my ghosts and cold snow
Are laden heavily on the evergreen branches
My soul is an eclipse of moths
Reduced to soot and ashes
Burning in a bleeding borealis